Open Letter to Opie and Anthony fans (and pests)

This was posted on O&A Fansites as an Open Letter to Opie and Anthony Pests (aka- their fans)

Many of you know me. Many of you have met me. I want you to listen to me for a moment. These are my own views and I do not claim to speak on behalf of anyone else.

We are at war here and I’m pissed off as all hell. Hyperbole aside, this is very real. Many people are wondering why they should cancel their XM subscriptions. The answer is simple. Opie & Anthony, by their actions towards their fans, have fostered a communal environment among the pests. They sponsor comedy tours and various live events where they stay and meet every single last fan. They show up at F.H. Riley’s just to hang out with everyone. They fill the studio up each morning with pests who are able to watch the show as it’s created. They take care to treat the PalTalk cameras as an important aspect of the show, so viewers across the country can easily take part. No one, and I mean no one, treats their fans better than O & A!!! And right now they need us–every single one of us–to stand up, be counted and send XM an unequivocal message.

When they were ushered off of the air in 2002 they had a huge backbone of fan support, but it didn’t matter. They were thrown under the bus. What’s different now is that we all pay for XM Satellite Radio. We will make a difference this time around because we control the purse strings. Every cancellation is future revenue out of XM’s pocket. But every single person reading this must RIGHT NOW call XM and outright cancel their subscription. I’m sorry, but nothing else is acceptable!!!! I don’t want to hear that someone is “waiting to see if they’ll still be on in a month.”

XM’s actions are obvious business decisions. By offering freebies of 30 or 60 days, they are blatantly trying to keep their subscription numbers up. Why? So when this fades away, as they hope it will, their balance sheets won’t reflect the reality of numbers lost! The only way a lost sub will count as a lost sub is to OUTRIGHT CANCEL it now. I’m personally asking you to do this. I am asking you to tell every subscriber you know to do the same. Outright cancellation.

Some want to hold onto their subscriptions to avoid a reactivation fee in the future. Let me hit you with some harsh reality. No one in radio history has ever been ‘suspended’ without being fired. It doesn’t happen and it’s only XM’s way of trying to spread out the story to avoid mass cancellations. Unfortunately, the ONLY thing XM will understand is a mass cancellation. Can I guarantee that O&A are fired? No, I cannot, but I think we all know where this is going. If we are able to win this war, then XM would be incredibly stupid not to waive the reactivation fees. Clearly by their recent moves they are making horrendous business decisions, but you do hope that logic would return at some point.

What bothers me most is XM’s complete cowardice in this matter. Using various despicable excuses for the ‘suspension.’ It’s as if the brave knight faced a tiny little mouse and decided to turn tail and run!! With the absurdity of the recent spate of radio firings, XM needed to not only SUPPORT Opie & Anthony, but to VIGOROUSLY DEFEND them!! Boy, did they let every one of us subscribers down!! How many times can we say it? XM Channel 202 is an uncensored XL SATELLITE radio station. The absolute last bastion of free speech. The press and the pundits that XM bowed to seem to ignore this fact. We, the PAYING fans, will not forget this fact. We pay for uncensored radio. We know it’s uncensored radio. We want our uncensored radio back!!